For a few moments Chris looked around looking rather disoriented, then looked up once again into the face of the old man who was watching him with a smile on his wrinkled wise looking face.

‘Good day to you sir’ said Chris ‘I seemed to be on target with where we were supposed to be going except that the others are no where to be seen.’

‘Others’ queried Dumbledore ‘May I ask exactly who you are, where you came from and how you suddenly appeared in my office in Hogwarts?’

Chris looked a bit unsure about how much to tell this man about what lay in the future, but he remembered what Doctor Williamson had told him about how wise Dumbledore was and could be told pretty much anything and he wouldn’t let it affect the outcome of things.

‘Well sir’ Chris stood up and went to sit in an available seat, he stumbled slightly. Chris hesitated for a moment wondering how much to reveal. ‘I’m from the future, about four hundred years in the future to be exact. And I and four others were sent back in pursuit of and alien shapeshifter who had used our time machine to escape and also came back to this time period. But just now I’m worried about where my friends are, you see five of us stepped into the time machine and we all usually appear together at our destination, but for some reason I appear to have achieved landing in the proper place, but my friends have not arrived with me.’

‘Interesting’ said Dumbledore ‘I have usually dealt with people from the future, but not from so far ahead. But for now I think that the best thing to do right now would be to get you to the hospital wing and have Poppy check you over to make sure that you’re alright. Because you appear to be a bit disoriented. We’ll take the floo network, the less people see of you for the time being the less questions that’ll be asked, though I have no doubt there will be a few later on.’

So they went over to the fireplace and Dumbledore grabbed a handful of grey powder from a container and step in among the ashes and facing Chris he motioned for him to join him, and Chris moved forward and stood beside him. Dumbledore threw the powder onto the ashes and said loudly ‘Hospital wing’.

Chris saw what looked like a sheet of green fire spring up in front of him and engulf both of them, and the next thing he knew he was falling out of another fireplace into a large room that had rows of beds going down each side along the walls. When he finally managed to get his bearings, Chris looked up and saw a woman rushing towards them, she looked kind of flustered.

‘Really Dumbledore, you could at least have given me some warning as to your arrival via the fireplace, you don’t usually use the floo network to arrive here.’

‘Sorry Poppy, but in this case time was really of the essence’ nodding his head towards Chris, who now appeared ready to collapse. And in fact he did, he fell forward and was just caught in time by Dumbledore and under instruction from Poppy had carried him over to one of the beds and laid him down. Poppy went to work right away taking out her wand and moving it over the top of Chris and muttering incantations and spells, eventually she stopped and turned to Dumbledore.

‘I’m afraid this boy is extremely weak Dumbledore. His magical abilities have been severely drained, how did he get here? I don’t recognise him. Is he a member of the student body?’

When he’d explained about how Chris had arrived Poppy was amazed,

‘But I thought that it was impossible for anyone to apparate in or even out of Hogwarts?’

‘That is the usual thing Poppy, but there is something about this boy that has nothing to do with the usual normal circumstances where apparition is concerned. I sensed that he is very powerful and somehow some of the usual laws of magic don’t apply to him. It’s as if he himself is a new kind of wizard. But I have to go, I’ll leave him in your capable hands’ and turning around he strode out of the hospital wing and made his way towards his office thinking about what Chris had said about having friends and they’d not turned up with him. He must try and find them.

~#~#~#~#~#

Liz awoke with a sever headache, sitting up she put her head in her hands and moaned slightly to herself. Looking around, she did not recognise anything; in fact she couldn’t even remember who she was. Looking around again she noticed that she was in what appeared to be an alleyway that was dirty and grimy, and on either side there were shops that were equally dirty and grimy. And in the alley with her were three other people lying unconscious, and she wondered who they were as well. Looking up she noticed a sign that said Knockturn Ally.

~#~#~#~#~#

A/N:- Just a short chapter to try and set the mood for the next chapter.